Research Studentship in Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Project: Experimental and Computational Modelling of Electroactive Biomaterials for Cardiac Therapies.

3.5-year D.Phil. studentship 

Supervisor: Malavika Nair

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of disability and mortality globally, with the rates set to rise with an ageing population. As a result, there has been significant interest in developing improved implantable medical devices, which aim to replace, support, and restore the function and mobility lost by the diseased cardiac tissues.

The extra cellular matrix (ECM) of tissues is an excellent base material for therapeutic and regenerative biomedical devices, since they can mimic the biological, chemical and physical environment experienced by cells in healthy tissue.  However, the biomedical devices currently fabricated from the ECM have limited tunability or dynamic control once implanted within the body. The aim of this project is to develop soft robotic biomedical devices from biological polymers. Biopolymers are an attractive material choice for biomedical drug delivery devices: they are abundant, biodegradable, and can offer excellent biomimicry if derived from the ECM. However, the ability to tune and exploit the electrical stimulus-related drug release within these polymeric constructs is less well-understood.

As part of the project, the student will optimise the electroactivity of tissue-derived biopolymers, and eventually develop a proof-of-concept drug delivery device. The project will involve the construction of electromechanically coupled Finite Element Models to understand and explore the fundamental mechanisms of electrophoretic drug delivery from ECM-based constructs. As part of the project the student will be required to balance both computational and experimental materials characterisation techniques. There is some scope for the student to define the scope of the project in conjunction with the supervisor based on their research interests.

Suitable applicants could come from a range of experimental science backgrounds (materials science, engineering, physics, chemistry) if they have an interest in developing and employing skills in materials synthesis, characterisation and finite element modelling of electromechanical phenomena.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to Home students (full award – home fees plus stipend).

Award Value

Course fees are covered at the level set for Home students (c. £9500 p.a. for 24/25). The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) is a minimum of c. £18622 p.a. for the first year, and at least this amount for a further two and a half years.

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A strong upper second-, or first-class honours degree in Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science or other cognate disciplines
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills
• Strong Experience with Finite Element Modelling
• Evidence of good laboratory-based skills and/or a willingness to learn experimental techniques.
• A strong and technical research proposal

The following skills are also highly desirable:

• Programming experience (i.e., Matlab, Python, etc.)

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Associate Professor Malavika Nair (malavika.nair@eng.ox.ac.uk).

Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria.  Details are available on the course page of the University website.

Please quote 24ENGBI_MN in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline: 1 March 2024

Start date: October 2024